Recording A Live Band In One Room With Isolation
Posted by Jim Pavett on 7th Aug 2026
Recording live bands simultaneously in one room is one of the more challenging tracking scenarios in studio engineering. Bleed, phase issues, and isolation become real problems the moment you put organic instruments like piano and stand-up bass in the same room as a drum kit.
The solution is not always a room full of iso booths. Sometimes it is smart microphone placement, the right gobos, and knowing which bleed actually helps the recording rather than hurts it.
Jim recently tracked a live jazz project — piano, stand-up bass, drums, vocals, and a multi-instrumentalist covering saxophone, clarinet, French horn, and trumpet — all simultaneously, all in one room. The gear choices and isolation strategy he used produced clean, separated tracks with natural room character intact.
The full breakdown — microphone selection, gobo placement, how he handled the figure-8 rear lobe on the ribbon mic, and why some bleed was kept intentionally — is in the video below.
Watch: Recording a Live Band in One Room With Isolation →
Gear used in this session:
- Audix SCX25A — drum overheads
- SE Electronics RNR1 — brass
- SE Electronics VR2 — ribbon mic